Bluetooth is a well-known wireless technology standard for exchanging data over relatively short distances using radio waves in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band from 2400-2480 MHz between wireless devices, such as computers, bar code scanners, telephones, tablets, personal digital assistants, radios, media players, headsets, laptops, computer mice, printers, modems, watches, pairs of glasses, and like mobile devices. Each such Bluetooth-enabled device has a host central processing unit (CPU) in which an operating system, e.g., Windows (trademark), is implemented. The operating system is typically embedded with a software-implemented, Bluetooth stack that supports various native Bluetooth profiles, e.g., PAN, SPP, DUN, HID, HCRP, etc., or Bluetooth versions, e.g., Version 1.0, Version 2.0, Version 3.0 (high-speed), or Version 4.0 (low-energy). These Bluetooth profiles include settings to parameterize and control the behavior that the Bluetooth-enabled devices use to communicate with one another. These Bluetooth versions include specifications regarding data rate and maximum data throughput. Each such Bluetooth-enabled device also has a hardware-implemented Bluetooth microprocessor or controller that is discrete from, or integrated with, the host CPU. The Bluetooth controller is connected to an antenna to transmit or receive the radio waves. As used herein, a Bluetooth device is one that has such a Bluetooth controller.
For security reasons, Bluetooth uses a process called pairing to control communications between a master device and a slave device that is in a Bluetooth-discoverable range of the master device. During pairing, the master and slave devices establish a relationship, typically by creating a shared secret, also known as a link key, which is stored on, and/or shared by, both devices. Once the master and slave devices have been successfully paired, these two devices can automatically connect to each other in the future without requiring the pairing to be repeated in order to confirm the identity of the devices.
When there is only one slave device in the Bluetooth-discoverable range of the master device, the user experience in performing pairing is relatively simple, straightforward, and quick. A user initiates the pairing at the master device, typically by requesting that the master device add the slave device. When the master device recognizes the single slave device, the pairing is complete. However, the user experience is much different when many slave devices are in the Bluetooth-discoverable range of the master device. There are many circumstances where multiple, and even a multitude of, slave devices are within the Bluetooth-discoverable range of a single master device. For example, dozens or hundreds of Bluetooth bar code scanners may be in the Bluetooth-discoverable range at a retail store, a warehouse, a factory, a hospital, or a like facility, where customers/workers remove the scanners from charging stations, and use the scanners when shopping/working to electro-optically read bar codes on various items. As another example, dozens or hundreds of Bluetooth radios or headsets may be in the Bluetooth-discoverable range of a master device, where the radios/headsets are used by first responders as part of a public safety network.
When there are many slave devices in the range of a master device, the user experience in performing pairing is relatively cumbersome, complex and slow. In a typical scenario, a user initiates the pairing by manually starting the Bluetooth discovery process on the master device, e.g., a computer, and by waiting until all the slave devices within range of the master device have been discovered and their identities displayed on a display screen of the master device. Typically, the names of the slave devices are displayed. Some of the names might be the same, thereby leading to confusion in distinguishing among the slave devices. In the case of bar code scanners, their names are represented by multi-digit, serial numbers. It generally takes a few seconds to display each name/serial number, and the user must wait for all the names/serial numbers for the many slave devices to be displayed. The greater the number of slave devices, the longer is the wait.
Next, the user has to find the name/serial number of a target slave device that the user selected and wishes to use. In the case of bar code scanners, the serial number is typically printed in a small font on a label on the target scanner and is typically twelve digits long. Seeing, memorizing, or writing a small-sized, multi-digit, serial number can be a difficult chore for many users. Next, the user has to find the name/serial number of the target slave device amid all the names/serial numbers displayed on the screen of the master device. Then, once the user finds the matching displayed name/serial number, the user has to manually perform another action on the master device to cause the latter to pair to the target slave device. If the user chooses the wrong displayed name/serial number, then the entire pairing process has to be repeated. It will be readily understood that this pairing process is complicated and prone to errors, even by skilled users. For novice users, especially retail customers who wish to use scanners during shopping, this cumbersome pairing process often causes customer frustration and an unwillingness to even use the scanners.
Accordingly, there is a need to enhance the user experience, for both skilled and novice users, when performing pairing in an environment where there are many slave devices in Bluetooth-discoverable range of a master device by simplifying and expediting the pairing process, and by rendering the pairing process more convenient and less prone to errors.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and locations of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The method and system components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.